Writing Web Content For A Living

Tiffani Jones owns Second and Park (http://secondandpark.com), a web writing business, and a SXSW panel, titled “Writing Web Content For A Living.” She focuses on copywriting and content strategy. Before starting Second and Park, Tiffani was a community/marketing specialist and project manager at Blue Flavor, and attended graduate school at the University of Chicago. She started to write the website a couple years ago, when she was working at a design agency. This agency needed someone who writes copy. She always wanted to be a writer, so she loved to do it. Because of that, she took some classes related to writing. She said through these classes, she grew from there.

Second and Park is her web writing and content strategy business. She started Second and Park as a practical way of exercising her entrepreneurial side because there is a great need for good web writing out there. For her business, she said “web copy is writing that makes peoples’ websites easier to use and navigate, more fun to read, and more compelling.” The writing also could involve taglines, product descriptions, and interaction on the page.

Even though many people focus on design and new technology, when people surf the web, they are looking for content, most of which is written. Therefore, good web copy helps businesses and organizations communicate who they are and what they do in a way that makes people want to stick around. In addition, good web copy makes a website easier to use and navigate.

To become a web writer, she said the most important things are knowledge of basic design, user experience principles, and the basics of good copywriting. She also mentioned that how to write for the web is different and grammar fundamentals are a good place to start. Finally, she gave some advice for new web writers; “Write a lot of web copy! Start reading about it (A List Apart is helpful.), and familiarize yourself with the best web copywriters out there- I took one at the school of visual concepts in Seattle. Once you have the basic principals down pat, start practicing. Rewrite copy for free, and see how it feels and if you like it. There are also classes out there which can be very helpful.”